Toyota throws hat into all-electric ring

Toyota is the undisputed leader in the hybrid space, and the Japanese automaker is looking to expand its kingdom by adding an all-electric vehicle to the mix. While there are few details available, Toyota has said the EV would likely be an urban city-type vehicle that will be available in the "early 2010s". Hopefully it will be more accommodating than Toyota's last attempt at an EV: the eCom (above), which used the innards of the RAV4 EV to achieve a top speed of 62 mph and a range of just 60 miles. Toyota's new EV, however, will be preceded in 2009 by the arrival of the brand's first plug-in Prius hybrid.
[Source: Bloomberg]











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Spule4 7:08PM (9/03/2008)
Figures, a small funky Japanese car would be on the top of the first page when you surf Autoblog while listening to Pizzicato 5.....
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Jack 1:08PM (9/05/2008)
Whatever you do now Toyota, you will find yourself behind the eight ball. The sleeping Giant has awaken and will bury you with high tech. You know who I talking about.
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tankd0g 9:13PM (9/03/2008)
Chery?
AMcA 8:33PM (9/03/2008)
Clown car.
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SPG 8:34PM (9/03/2008)
Assclown car.
oby 8:37PM (9/03/2008)
"Whatever you do now Toyota, you will find yourself behind the eight ball. The sleeping Giant has awaken and will bury you with high tech. You know who I talking about."
I have heard some real dumbass comments on this and other auto sites but this one takes the prize for the dumbest of them all, bar none!
The sleeping giant you speak of has not awoken and will not awake! It's dead! All that is left is a rotten corpse. Toyota has nothing to fear from this dead body.
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Yar 9:33PM (9/03/2008)
Did a Corvette run over your dog or something? Nearly every comment you make is a bash on GM, which makes you a troll.
KazO 10:06PM (9/03/2008)
Bwahahaha!! I was one of the people in the program mentioned in the wikipedia link. We got to take it home for a month, the only stipulation being no freeways. It does NOT have RAV4EV guts; the RAV4 has WAY more power. I managed 64MPH once, downhill with a tailwind. I would the new thing would be far more advanced than the eCom, which is a decade old. IIRC it only had regenerative coasting, not regenerative braking.
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Bit 12:14PM (9/04/2008)
what's the diff between regen coasting and braking?
Otto Ingineer 12:39AM (9/04/2008)
You guys flip-flopped the picture of the EV. Not that it really matters - it is the last attempt by Toyota and not connected to the current article content.
Toyota will continue to keep putting its eggs in many baskets - making small cars and big trucks - and trying to make money on *everything*. That way they will stay in the game.
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Shiftright 1:40AM (9/04/2008)
It looks like they literally threw their hat into the ring, and then put some shopping cart wheels on it.
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ZingKingX 3:39AM (9/04/2008)
That looks really cheap for Toyota...
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Sharone 5:03AM (9/04/2008)
That's the Tata Nano Hybrid edition.
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dkw 12:18PM (9/04/2008)
Either I'm getting too old or I must have been born too late..... I hate cars that look like this. (i'm 33)
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coffeehands 12:13PM (9/05/2008)
You guys need to wake up and read, that photo is 10 years old, not the new EV.
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